Copenhagen canals – Havnebadet Copenhagen & a canal tour

There’s something enticing about the thought of diving into clear fresh water, out in the open air. Less so in October though… I’d read about the Havnebadet, or harbour baths in Copenhagen, not far from where we stayed in Islands Brygge.

Filled with water from the canal (checked regularly for cleanliness), it’s a popular place for swimming during the summer months. But as Denmark’s weather makes it less appealing from autumn onwards, I’d also read that they close from September, marking the unofficial end of summer for Copenhageners.

It seems that’s not entirely correct – not if you have a winter pass, at any rate. Wandering past this morning, we saw half a dozen people plunging into the water, having a bracing swim, before scuttling off to change, clad only in swimming gear and a towel. I’m shivering just thinking about it – our planned canal tour was the closest I wanted to get!

Check out my complete guide to Denmark with kids here

I can see why they have mobile saunas along the banks… Not that anyone seemed to be using them, despite the temperatures in October.

Would you be tempted to dive in?

But that was only the start of our Copenhagen canal experience. When you think of European cities with canals, Copenagen probably comes a long way down the list after Venice and Amsterdam – if it makes the list at all.

But seeing the city from the water is one of the best ways to get an overview of the Danish capital.

As well as the Little Mermaid in the harbour, Copenhagen is divided up by stretches of water, creating islands around the original fortress location on Slotsholmen, the 18th century houses of Christianshavn and taking you along the picturesque Nyhavn, or New Harbour, with its brightly coloured houses (and now string of cafes catering to all the tourists snapping the famous view).

It’s also here that you can catch the hop-on hop-off boat tour that runs around the harbour and canals.

It’s included in the Copenhagen Card  and while the information tells you to use the stop at Gammel Strand, during the winter at least, they seem happy for you to get on at Nyhavn, as long as you’ve queued up to get a paper voucher at the kiosk first.

And it seemed like the perfect introduction to Copenhagen, getting a few bearings, seeing a few sights which are best discovered from the water, and being able to get on and off was a bonus with a baby. Except there were one or two flaws with that plan.

Firstly, you can’t take buggies on, instead they have to be left on the quayside.

This being Denmark, it was perfectly safe (and by the time we returned there were half a dozen others parked up too), but it did mean that hopping off wasn’t an option unless I wanted to carry Minnie back to the pushchair.

And unlike bus tours which seem to run every 10 minutes or so, the gaps between boats are longer – in October, a full circuit is 75 minutes, so if you got off to see the Little Mermaid, you had more than an hour before you could hop back on.

But the tour itself is great, even if the passengers on our boat were treated to the background noise of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and owl noises from one of Minnie’s books (fortunately she was looking particularly cutely big blued eyed and we seemed to get away with it).

With half an eye on her, we passed palaces, churches, astonishingly low bridges, historic sites, the opera house, boats galore and got a fleeting glimpse of the famous mermaid statue, gazing wistfully over the heads of the crowd clustered at her feet.

The sun was (thankfully) shining and we’d snagged a couple of outside seats to take photos, although by the time our hour and a quarter was up, I was thinking longingly of thermal vests. So we power-walked along to the old beach, or Gammel Strand to grab lunch.

Along the cobbled waterfront section, there’s now a string of funky bars, a swanky fish restaurant and a tattoo bar nearby, plus a burger restaurant called Cocks & Cows, which had been recommended as family-friendly.

Which it sort of was and sort of wasn’t.

Big communal tables meant we sat on one end with a group of women out for a leisurely lunch and catch-up (I suspect having a high chair nearby wasn’t in their original plan).

And there were more groups of 20-somethings tucking into their burgers than families on a Saturday lunchtime, although Minnie certainly wasn’t alone among the under-fives.

But the busy staff were still happy to make all of us welcome, and while she turned her nose up at stealing our spiral fries, she did nibble the edge of my classic cow burger with extra guacamole – you get a choice of bun, and the burgers are huge.

I had to dismantle mine to even attempt eating it, and ended up hiding the remains under a giant lettuce leaf when I was too full to finish it all.

There’s a great cocktail menu but in deference to my daughter and our busy day, I stuck to the chocolate-espresso shake instead, which was practically a dessert in its own right.

Refuelled, and having a bit more idea of Copenhagen’s compact scale, it was time to hit a few more sights…

PIN FOR LATER: A COPENHAGEN CANAL TOUR

Canal image courtesy Depositphotos, all other images copyright Cathy Winston/Mummytravels

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